novelraw Chapter 234 : Chapter 234
Chapter 234 : Chapter 234
Chapter 234: Friend (1)
A news report that the entire nation could see.
Nevertheless, the reason she confidently left her message must have been thanks to Smiley's confidence that only she and Ho-cheol, just the two of them, could understand its true meaning.
“Such a blatant invitation.”
Da-yeon and Ye-jin still couldn't understand his muttering.
However, having some sense, they immediately noticed it wasn't a situation for joking.
The two simultaneously got off his thighs and observed his condition.
Ye-jin subtly shifted her gaze and communicated with Da-yeon with her eyes.
He doesn't look as bad as I thought, though?
Her eyes, moving up and down, were saying as much.
Da-yeon also nodded cautiously, as if agreeing.
Certainly, in the past two months, they had only seen Ho-cheol look genuinely angry once.
Exactly one month ago, a large-scale mobilization that emptied the entire hideout.
And when he returned, he was so grim that they hesitated to even greet him.
Especially the blood dripping from his two hands proved that it hadn't ended with just beating up a few people.
At that time, they couldn't even think of striking up a conversation and truly lived holding their breath like hostages.
If Ho-cheol hadn't greeted them first after just four days, they'd probably still be training in a corner right now.
In fact, that incident served as momentum for Ho-cheol to show he was a little sorry, which is how they got this close.
In any case, he seemed much better now than back then.
Thinking so, Ye-jin cautiously brought it up.
“An invitation?”
“……You don't need to know.”
Ho-cheol, who answered curtly, waved his hand lightly.
Ye-jin's phone in his hand shook up and down.
Separate from that invitation, he had no intention of going anyway.
She was blatantly luring him like that; naturally, all sorts of traps would be waiting for him if he went.
It was Smiley, who perfectly understood Ho-cheol's Trait, combat style, and weaknesses.
She would probably attack in an outlandish way he couldn't even predict.
On a board laid out by Smiley like that, even Ho-cheol couldn't guarantee victory.
Besides, time was also on Ho-cheol's side.
Currently, Smiley had completely split from the Society.
According to information obtained from torturing... no, persuading the other researchers, the resurrected Smiley's body would collapse if she didn't periodically receive 'adjustments' from the Society.
That limit was approximately 3 months.
On top of that, her body's condition would deteriorate rapidly, and from the 2-month mark, she was said to be almost half-corpse level.
In reality, her combat power was likely dropping drastically every day, and it would be over if he just held out a little longer here.
To be honest, he was inwardly hoping the fake Smiley would just die quietly in some remote mountain village.
Seeing her face just made him feel unsettled for no reason.
For him, collecting her body later, after she was dead, was the best ending, one that might leave lingering attachment, but no regrets.
“Still, I need to confirm the facts.”
He intended to have his subordinates check all the CCTV in that area.
If Smiley was caught on it, he could backtrack and confirm her movements or current residence.
Ho-cheol, having judged so, called Wolf Fang.
No, he tried to call.
But before he could, Wolf Fang suddenly burst into his office.
Watching Wolf Fang gasping for breath, holding the doorknob, Ho-cheol narrowed his brows, puzzled.
“What is it?”
Because he had been a bit sensitive a month ago, his other subordinates had also become extremely cautious in their attitude toward him.
For that Wolf Fang to throw open the door without knocking or checking the mood was unusual.
It seemed something serious had happened.
Truthfully, no matter how serious, it was bound to be trivial compared to what he'd experienced recently.
Could it possibly compare to a dead person coming back to life, or discovering dozens of clones?
He thought so, a bit complacently.
But Wolf Fang's next words were, as expected, of a more serious kind.
“Th-Monitoring Target No. 1. That is. She... has been kidnapped.”
Monitoring Target No. 1. Ho-cheol knew very well who that designated.
Unable to control his momentary emotions, he reached out and grabbed Wolf Fang by the collar.
At the more intense reaction than ever, Wolf Fang's pupils trembled faintly.
Monitoring Target No. 1.
He too knew very well who that word designated.
“What happened?”
“Th-That is.”
“Don't stutter, don't cut corners. Straight.”
Wolf Fang barely stood his ground on his tiptoes and squeezed his eyes shut.
“Her whereabouts have been unknown for two days. Since it was long-distance, remote surveillance, we judged she was staying based on the dorm lights, but it seems she was kidnapped with the room light left on.”
Wolf Fang didn't dare open his eyes.
He would probably be beaten by the enraged Ho-cheol.
But the relentless violence he expected didn't come.
Rather, the grip on his collar loosened.
Ho-cheol instead sat down heavily on the sofa's armrest and asked.
“……Kidnapped. Who?”
“I'm sorry. There are no clues at all. We're still investigating, so if we find a trace, immediately……”
“No. No need to look.”
Ho-cheol covered his forehead with one hand.
“It was that woman's doing anyway.”
Right, someone as meticulous as Smiley wouldn't have sent just that invitation.
She probably put his refusal into her plan and kidnapped So-hee as a card for that blackmail.
“Movements. Map out her movements, and for now, pinpoint the time and place as much as possible.”
“Uh, but isn't something a bit strange?”
Ho-cheol's head turned to the side.
The one who spoke was Da-yeon.
“What?”
“Th-Hic—”
At Ho-cheol's rarely seen grim expression, even a hiccup popped out.
She continued speaking, even while her body jerked with continuous hiccups.
“It's been two days, but the Association is too quiet. Hic— It seems quiet. They should have reacted much sooner than you, Professor.”
She cautiously offered a different opinion.
“Maybe, the Association called the counselor and hid her. Or something like that?”
“Absurd nonsense... or so I'd like to say.”
Ho-cheol closed his eyes.
He briefly weighed the possibilities and opened his eyes again.
“These bastards have such a colorful criminal record, I can't trust them.”
Da-yeon's opinion, frankly, had a very slim possibility.
However, through that opinion, another possibility occurred to him.
It was a terrible thought, so unpleasant he didn't even want to imagine it.
The Association's rotten upper brass was fully capable of pulling such a stunt.
“First, I'll need to check.”
Ho-cheol got up from his seat again and put on the coat hanging on the rack.
“Get ready. We're going to the Association immediately.”
At Ho-cheol's brief remark, Wolf Fang asked back.
“Uh, what should we prepare for?”
“Confirmation and a warning. Depending on the circumstances……”
He reached out and gripped the Purple Crystal Sword propped up next to him.
It was his weapon, one that would rarely leave its sheath even if a battle broke out, but this time, it was already drawn from its sheath, spraying a chilling light.
“War.”
At the one word he added, Wolf Fang's face, as well as Da-yeon's and Ye-jin's, turned deathly pale.
If the worst-case scenario Ho-cheol envisioned were to occur... he, too, had no intention of letting this matter go simply.
***
Immediately after turning villain, Ho-cheol had assigned people to So-hee and all the humans he had a close or tight relationship with.
Of course, the Association also knew his tracks, so he couldn't blatantly place people close.
That was the problem.
He should have taken a bit of a risk and attached them closely for protection.
But now that it had already happened, regret was useless.
And so, So-hee being kidnapped was already two days ago.
Of course, there was nothing his side, secretly monitoring, could do, but in that case, what did the Hero Association do?
Even though So-hee, one of their key agents, was kidnapped, the Association showed no reaction.
Ho-cheol, who realized that fact first, immediately confirmed a few things with the informant he had planted in the Association.
And the Association had taken no measures regarding So-hee's kidnapping.
No report, no search, not even an official briefing.
It was as if So-hee wasn't an agent of the Association.
No, they treated her as if she was a person who never existed in the first place.
The suspicion, which had been mere conjecture, gradually turned into certainty.
And that certainty soon turned into anger.
The place that anger was directed at was, naturally, the Hero Association.
Noon, with the sun beating down.
Society had been restless lately, but at least the Hero Association's headquarters was, as usual, moderately busy and moderately peaceful.
However, that peace, which seemed like it would continue, suddenly shattered.
Kuuung―! Kung―!
The building's outer wall vibrated along with a powerful tremor.
It was the Hero Association's headquarters, built so sturdily that it wouldn't even get a scratch from a direct missile hit, yet this vibration clearly shook the entire headquarters.
While the employees were flustered, wondering if it was an earthquake.
Kwaang―!
With a third impact, more intense than any before, one of the building's outer walls collapsed.
Ho-cheol, wearing a black trench coat, stepped into the building over the collapsed debris.
Having broken through the wall and entered, leaving the perfectly fine main entrance just a dozen or so meters away, his intention was clear.
He spoke briefly.
“This place still reeks of rot.”
Simultaneously, dozens of villains swarmed in.
These were the 'real villains' Ho-cheol had handpicked.
Every one of them was a formidable villain, and even the weakest villain here possessed combat power at the mid-level of A-rank or higher.
The lobby employees stirred.
Thanks to even the simple office workers having received minimal training, a chaotic panic didn't break out, but they couldn't hide the confused atmosphere.
A heavily armed security team and heroes appeared from somewhere and rushed them, but unfortunately, it was a miserable situation where they were pushed back, not just in individual force, but in numbers as well.
Kwaang―!
Tang tang―!
Ho-cheol walked slowly, paying no mind to the bloody battle erupting around him.
Before long, he stood in the center of the lobby, on top of the Hero Association's mark etched into the floor.
As if trampling on the Association itself, he lightly lifted his foot and tapped the floor.
Jjeojeojeok―
A clear crack formed over the Association's symbol.
He tilted his sword left and right, gesturing to the security team and heroes who had been annihilated in an instant.
“I have nothing to say to the rank-and-file employees. The time it takes for the Hero Association President to come down before me. 10.”
It was too leisurely a tone for a threat, but for an invitation, thick killing intent dripped from the sword he held.
“9…… 8……”
The Association employees, and even the villains who followed Ho-cheol, had expected 10 minutes.
But he wasn't that patient today.
After counting 10 seconds in an instant, Ho-cheol swung his sword through the air.
Kwadeudeudeudeuk―!
In an instant, a part of the lobby was split in half.
He had controlled the angle well so no one would be hit, split, and die, but there was no way the people watching knew that.
The employees, instantly falling into a panic, fled to the door.
No, they tried to flee.
Villains were already blocking the main entrance and the wall Ho-cheol had broken through.
It was impossible for them, regular office workers, to break through.
Watching the employees, Ho-cheol twisted one corner of his mouth into a smile.
“Where do you think you're running, you're all hostages. By the way, still hasn't come out. 10. 9. 8.”
Ho-cheol counted 10 seconds again.
1 minute and 40 seconds.
That was the time it took for the Hero Association President to show himself in the lobby.
In that time, Ho-cheol had swung his sword 9 more times, and the lobby floor was already in tatters, the rebar supporting the building laid bare.
If the building, from its walls to its tiles, hadn't been entirely reinforced with Traits, it wouldn't have been strange for it to have already collapsed.
Watching the Association President, Ho-cheol tilted his head left and right.
The wrinkled face, the white hair, the figure leaning on a cane—he looked like he could drop dead today and it wouldn't be strange.
“38 minor injuries, 11 serious. You managed to come down before anyone died.”
Of course, he had tried his best not to kill anyone, but you never know what could happen to a person's life.
At Ho-cheol's chin gesture, the villains blocking the entrance stood aside.
Only then could the employees finally evacuate to safety.
It was a welcome situation for Ho-cheol as well.
The fewer ears listening to this story, the better.
Ho-cheol again walked forward and stood before the Association President.
Ho-cheol, who was staring blankly at the Association President, scowled and clicked his tongue.
“Sent a clone again. That must have taken an extra 30 seconds. Aren't you sick of desperately protecting your own life?”
The Association President didn't answer Ho-cheol's sarcasm.
Instead, his eyes, half-hidden between wrinkles, opened slightly and scanned the atrocity Ho-cheol had created.
“What in the world is this act?”
Ho-cheol may have turned villain, but the Association's upper echelon didn't believe he had 'truly' become a villain.
That was only natural.
Even after supposedly becoming a villain, his actions weren't much different from what he did as a professor at Clington.
That's why, out of consideration for Ho-cheol's position, they were even postponing his public designation as a villain.
But this act now was an outrage that trampled even the minimal concession the Association had shown so far.
“Do you intend to wage an all-out war with the Hero Association?”
The Association President was full of confidence.
The headquarters may have been taken so helplessly right now, but this wasn't the Association's full strength.
The heroes belonging to the Association, their forces, were spread all across this country.
Private heroes and Hunters were concentrated only in the metropolitan area.
But that didn't mean there were no gates or villains in the provinces.
The Association-affiliated heroes who handled them were, in a sense, true powerhouses who combined only the strengths of heroes and Hunters.
If Ho-cheol truly declared war on the Association, all of them, scattered in various regions, would gather, and even if Ho-cheol won, he would not emerge unscathed.
However, Ho-cheol was not at all intimidated by the Association President's overbearing attitude.
“Good. War.”
Unlike the Association President, who was merely making an intimidation tactic, Ho-cheol reacted as if he welcomed it.
To him, right now, war wasn't a threat.
He was just barely holding back his desire to smash everything, truly wanting an all-out war.
“Before that, let's confirm one thing. Did you know that the So-hee woman was kidnapped?”
Before the Association President could answer, Ho-cheol raised his hand and held up three fingers.
Through the information given so far and the Association's actions, Ho-cheol had formed three hypotheses.
Not one of them was to his liking, but even among them, there was a clear worst and best.
He first folded his thumb, presenting the best case.
“If her disappearance was a self-staged act done within the Association, I'll let it go. It's part of your plan anyway, and you would have at least secured the minimal justification of intending to protect her.”
Next, he folded his index finger.
“If you just didn't know So-hee was kidnapped due to simple incompetence, I'll endure it and let it go. I've known you were incompetent for over 20 years. If you were competent, a villain like me wouldn't have emerged, nor would Smiley have died like that. But……”
Ho-cheol twisted his last remaining middle finger and pointed it at the Association President.
“But. If you knew about the kidnapping and still showed no reaction... and so, painted a picture of luring me and Smiley into a conflict, all the way to mutual destruction.”
Ho-cheol folded his last middle finger and clenched his fist.
“It's war. Old man.”
“Truly absurd. What is your relationship with Agent Han So-hee that you act so sensitively? Is she your lover?”
“Friend.”
Ho-cheol answered instantly.
But to the Association President, that answer was even more bizarre.
If he had said lover, or some deep relationship, he could have understood.
He struck the floor hard with his cane.
“A relationship of just that degree? Are you saying you'd wage an all-out war with the Association for the reason of just a friend?”
“Just.”
Ho-cheol covered his mouth with one hand.
But his lips, barely visible between his fingers, were clearly smiling.
However, that smile was by no means a pleasant kind.
“I conquered half this country to get revenge, but I gave all of that up for just one friend, as you put it. In that case, I, who am now in a situation to lose a second friend……”
His hand had moved from his lips to cover his entire face.
“Shall I show you just how far I'm capable of going for one friend?”
An all-out war with the Hero Association?
That was just a trivial beginning, small enough to be called 'just'.
“So you'd better watch your words.”
His sword was now aimed at the Association President's neck.